


Lost In Lights

by tookumade



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-09
Updated: 2014-11-26
Packaged: 2018-02-24 16:42:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2588774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tookumade/pseuds/tookumade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A chance meeting one casual weekend, radiant smiles, broken glasses, and a kiss in a storm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A First Hello

**Author's Note:**

> I saw the Iwaizumi Hajime/Shimizu Kiyoko tag and realised that I needed it like breathing. This is the result. I hope you enjoy reading!  
> (Chapter and fic titles come from names of songs by Soulostar, which I listened to as I wrote this.)

It starts in their first year of high school with respectful nods and bows as are the norm, but nothing else. After all, they are busy with their own teams and don’t have any reason to speak to each other, so they don’t. But Kiyoko’s beauty stands out, as does Iwaizumi using Oikawa as target practice in a lively manner, and those are the ways they first bring attention to each other.  
  
The months go by and they approach their third year. Karasuno and Aoba Jousai’s volleyball matches take place and occasionally they share the same tournament building.  
  
Kiyoko notices that while Iwaizumi doesn’t hesitate to throw things at Oikawa with accuracy that any volleyball player would envy, he is much more patient and gentler to their other teammates, particularly the first years. She sees him advise or reassure his kouhai when they mess up, and he is firm but his words have a kindness to them, and he is never patronising. His kouhai all look at him as though he is the one who hangs the moon in the sky every night.  
  
Iwaizumi observes the attentive way Shimizu goes about her managerial duties with a quiet dignity and grace (and beauty. That’s hard to ignore because a) she is extremely pretty, and b) that’s _all_ his teammates ever talk about when gossiping about her). In their third year, he sees her completely ignore Oikawa when he tries flirting with her, walking by him as though he doesn’t exist, and it’s the most refreshing thing Iwaizumi has seen in a long time. He laughs so hard that he has tears in his eyes, and brushes off his kouhai’s questions when they ask him what is so funny.  
  
The first time they actually speak to each other is not anywhere near a volleyball court, but at a shopping area downtown one casual Sunday, nearly two weeks after Karasuno’s training camp with the Fukurodani Academy Group has ended.  
  
Kiyoko is mentally running through her list of errands when she spots Iwaizumi walking in the other direction. As he looks up from his phone, they stop and stare at each other in surprise.  
  
“You’re Karasuno’s manager,” says Iwaizumi slowly. “Shimizu-san, right? Just shopping today?” He points to the carry bag in her hand.  
  
“I’m running some errands, but I’m nearly done.” Normally, Kiyoko would stop the conversation there but something pushes her to ask, “How about you?”  
  
Iwaizumi scratches his neck absently. “It’s my little sister’s birthday soon and I’m trying to find a present for her. And you? What else are you shopping for?”  
  
“Hitoka-chan asked me to pick up some poster boards, and then I’m finished for today.”  
  
“Hitoka?”  
  
“Our other manager.”  
  
“Ah, right. So… you’re headed to the art and craft’s store, then?” When Kiyoko nods, Iwaizumi eyes her thoughtfully. “I have a cousin who works part-time there, and I think she’s working today. If you don’t mind, I could go with you and we can see if she can give you a small discount. How about it?”  
  
He speaks so casually yet sincerely and without being pushy, that Kiyoko can’t help but smile a little and say, “That would be helpful. Thank you.”  
  
They fall into step with each other and make their way to the other side of the shopping area. For a while, they don’t say anything, and Kiyoko finds it a relaxing and welcome change to all the times boys have tried making conversation by flirting with her. Iwaizumi doesn’t seem like the ‘flirtatious’ type, and Kiyoko, quiet as she is, feels comfortable enough to ask, “Do you have any idea what to buy for your sister?”  
  
“Well… she really likes to draw so I might find something at the art and crafts store… and she and both my little brothers are going through a huge Sailor Moon phase right now, so there’s that.” He shakes his head. “Every day, I have the theme song stuck in my head. And Oikawa doesn’t help; he knows about it so he keeps _singing_ it to me.”  
  
Kiyoko smiles. “So Oikawa-san is like an extra sibling?”  
  
Iwaizumi groans a little. “Well, when you put it that way…”  
  
They reach the art and crafts store and Iwaizumi goes to find his cousin. Kiyoko heads to where the poster boards are kept and chooses some pieces quickly, and is about to head to the counter when she spots something from the corner of her eye.  
  
“Iwaizumi-san,” Kiyoko calls out down the aisle. As he looks her way, she holds up a Sailor Moon-themed sketchbook, and his face lights up and he looks as though all his problems are solved.  
  
“This is _perfect_. You’re a life saver,” he says, grinning as he jogs over and takes the sketchbook from her.  
  
“It’s nothing, I’m sure you would’ve found something like it eventually.”  
  
“You’re way too modest. You’ve just saved me from walking around aimlessly, you know? Thank you.” He looks so pleased that it’s almost infectious, and Kiyoko herself can’t help but feel a little proud, despite what little they had to do.  
  
They take their purchases to the counter and Iwaizumi’s cousin, a chipper college student, rings them up with a small discount while making small talk and giving Iwaizumi a very obviously mischievous grin as she looks between him and Kiyoko. Iwaizumi does his best to look stoic while a vein is throbbing in his jaw, and they make a hasty exit after paying.  
  
“Sorry about her,” Iwaizumi mumbles as they put distance between themselves and the store. “She talks too much. My family can be really embarrassing sometimes.”  
  
“It’s fine. It was nice of her to give us the discount… and, um, thank you for your help, too.”  
  
“No problem,” says Iwaizumi. He looks around and gestures to a café across the road. “Since we’re both done for today, how about grabbing something to drink? My treat, since you helped me find a birthday present for my sister.”  
  
“You helped me with the discount for the poster boards, though,” Kiyoko points out.  
  
“… huh.”  
  
Kiyoko smiles. “I would like to get something to drink,” she says.  
  
They cross the road to the café, and Kiyoko takes the time to marvel at how casual Iwaizumi is around her and how easy it is to talk with him; the closest she has to this are Sawamura, Sugawara, and Azumane, and that was because they’d all known each other since first year. People are always either overly flustered or trying to impress her and get her attention, which gets tiring after a while when all she wants is to have a normal conversation, or to go about her own business.  
  
The café they head into is small but cosy, and heavy with the smell of coffee. Kiyoko and Iwaizumi take a seat at a table near the back and order their drinks, and they talk.  
  
At first, Iwaizumi does most of the talking and Kiyoko listens. He tells her about his kouhai, mostly; about how hard Kindaichi works and how eager he is to please; how Kunimi could be so good at anything he puts his mind to, if he would only exert a _little_ more effort; how Watari is still quite self-conscious about his small stature despite everyone telling him he’s fine the way he is, which in turn worries Iwaizumi. He tells her that the Kageyama he knew used to be such a happy and bright-eyed (and frankly quite adorable) kid, and wonders aloud how he became so jaded and cranky in the two years they were in different schools.  
  
“He’s doing much better,” says Kiyoko. “He isn’t as cold anymore. Well, he really _can’t_ be, given who his teammates are.”  
  
“They’re a good bunch,” says Iwaizumi with an appreciative nod. “I think he needed that sort of support. He needed to not be a leader for a while… just time to cut loose and really enjoy volleyball again.”  
  
Eventually, Kiyoko begins to open up, too. She tells him how she feels a constant want to dote on Hitoka-chan because they are both the only child in their respective families and Hitoka-chan was like a little sister; that Saeko-neesan treats everyone, including Kiyoko, like family which she appreciates too for the same reason; that she rarely worries too much about her team when they are down because they pick themselves up so well, but there are times when she is afraid that they’ll burn themselves out, and she won’t know how to help them.  
  
“Of all the teams I’ve ever played, the current Karasuno has been the most tiring,” says Iwaizumi. “Together, they’ve got enough energy to power a small city. Even if they burned themselves out, I doubt they’d stay that way for long… and I’m sure you being there and supporting them will help them, too.”  
  
Kiyoko sips her coffee without responding, and Iwaizumi notices that she doesn’t look convinced.  
  
“You work hard,” he says in a firm but kind voice that she wasn’t quite expecting, which surprises her enough to look back up at him. “I’ve seen you in between matches and sets. You have a different energy to the rest of your team, but all your time and effort you put into the club doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s obvious your group cares _a lot_ about you, and I think if there’s ever a time when they do burn out, you just being there will encourage them to get back on their feet. Sometimes, that’s all people need.”  
  
At that moment, Kiyoko is reminded of the times she has seen him encourage his teammates at matches, and how quickly they perk up afterwards. So this must be what it feels like.  
  
A bubble of laughter escapes her throat and she buries her face in her coffee again. Iwaizumi looks confused.  
  
“S-Sorry, did I say something weird?” he asks.  
  
“No, not at all,” says Kiyoko, “but it was… well… thank you. Really, I mean it. I’ll keep doing my best for my team.” And she smiles a lovely, wide smile that lights up her face with a radiance very different to her usual cool beauty that so many people often see.  
  
 _Ah,_ thinks Iwaizumi as he hastily turns his attention back to his drink. His heartbeat has suddenly quickened. _I think I get it, now._

— — —


	2. The Quiet Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not 100% satisfied with this chapter, but if I didn't finish and post it, I was going to drive myself nuts. Now at last, I can move onto the next!

Kiyoko and Iwaizumi exchange phone numbers, and though they never tell each other, both feel a tiny flutter in their chest that they don’t quite understand until much later.  
  
The afternoon goes by and the sky begins to darken, and as Iwaizumi is walking her to her bus stop, Kiyoko finds herself wishing that they had a little more time to hang around; it had been more fun than she’d expected.  
  
“The next bus is in five minutes,” says Kiyoko after consulting the timetable at the bus stop.  
  
“Okay.” Iwaizumi looks at her a little hesitantly. “Hey… if you’re free next Sunday, would you like to grab lunch? I had fun today, so I just thought…” His voice dies in his throat when he sees Kiyoko smile warmly.  
  
“Sure,” she says. “I’d like that.”  
  
“Okay,” says Iwaizumi, feeling a little winded. “Okay, good. Uh. Cool.”  
  
Though he had told her that Karasuno had the energy to power a small city, honestly, her smile alone could probably do the job.  
  
—  
  
The week leading up to the Sunday is a long but busy week for both of them.  
  
For Karasuno, training sessions are even livelier than usual, if that were possible, and Kiyoko is on her feet the whole time, keeping up with the team and reading their needs as a setter reads the game. There is a slightly different air about her—a subtle fire and vigour unlike her usual composed demeanour, and it’s infectious. Whether consciously or not, the team is encouraged by her spirit, to the point where Coach Ukai has to tell them to turn it down a notch, lest they hurt themselves.  
  
“You haven’t had this look about you since you were searching for a new manager,” says Sugawara with a small smile half-way through the week’s last practice. “Did something happen?”  
  
Kiyoko avoids looking him in the eye as she gathers the water bottles. “No,” she says, “but I just thought it wouldn’t be bad to get a little fired up every now and then. I can’t lose to the rest of you.”  
  
“We appreciate your work, Shimizu.”  
  
Kiyoko smiles. “I’ll do my best.”  
  
Behind them, Tanaka and Nishinoya are swooning at the sight of her smiling and have to be brought back to earth by Daichi. The rest of the training session is so energetic that Coach Ukai gives up telling them to calm down, and everyone finishes up on a high note.  
  
For Aoba Jousai, training sessions are a little more intense with the upcoming Spring tournament, but otherwise nothing too out of the ordinary. Oikawa is every bit a perfect mix of irritating and excellent as ever, the third years are every bit as snarky, and their kouhai are all working hard. Iwaizumi watches them proudly as they serve, spike, receive, and block with relative ease.  
  
“You’re in a good mood this week,” Matsukawa remarks as they take a drink break and sit back to watch Oikawa give tips to Kindaichi and Yahaba. “Did something happen?”  
  
Iwaizumi pushes the thought of Sunday out of his head. “Aren’t I always in a good mood?” he says.  
  
“Are you being sarcastic?”  
  
“You’ve only kicked Oikawa three times today, and it’s making us worry about you,” says Hanamaki as he joins them and takes a swig from his water bottle.  
  
Iwaizumi shrugs. “He’s stopped singing the Sailor Moon theme song every time he’s around me. If that happened to you, you’d be in a good mood, too.”  
  
“Can’t argue with that,” says Matsukawa.  
  
“And here, I thought it was because you finally met someone nice,” says Hanamaki. When Iwaizumi gives him a sharp and slightly alarmed look because _oh no did he find out_ , Hanamaki nods and adds, “Yeah, I figured. You’re way too busy for that.”  
  
Iwaizumi isn’t sure whether he should feel offended or relieved.  
  
—  
  
Sunday finally arrives and they meet up in town. Seeing each other again is a welcome break from their busy week (and there is again the familiar flutter in their chest that they both decide to ignore), and after their greetings, Kiyoko takes Iwaizumi to try what her dad had declared ‘the best katsu curry I have ever eaten in my _life_ , Kiyoko!’  
  
“I have no idea if it’s actually any good,” says Kiyoko apprehensively as they walk towards the restaurant, “but Azumane mentioned liking it as well, so I figured it’ll at least be okay…”  
  
“No, I get your skepticism,” says Iwaizumi with an understanding nod. “The last time my dad insisted I try something he thought was amazing, I got put off yakisoba for four months.”  
  
“ _Four months?_ ”  
  
“It was from a really terrible restaurant on the other side of the mall. The one with the tacky blue neon signs. I don’t get why my dad likes it so much.”  
  
“Dads are weird.”  
  
“They really are.”  
  
(The katsu curry, as it turns out, is actually very good, and Kiyoko makes a mental note to thank her dad for not having terrible opinions about food.)  
  
Just as last time, the two of them talk and their conversations flow freely. Iwaizumi mentions that Aoba Jousai had taken part in a training camp about a month ago, and Kiyoko tells him the same of Karasuno training with some other schools. Neither mention nor ask for details, and they realise that at some point, they had already made a silent agreement to try to keep their future volleyball talk that way.  
  
“I will say this, though,” Kiyoko adds, “they’ve improved so much, you’ll hardly recognise them.”  
  
Iwaizumi grins. “I don’t doubt it, but we’ve got some surprises of our own.”  
  
At one point during their lunch, both bring out their phones to show each other some photos they had taken in the past week; Kiyoko impresses him with the stunning posters that Yachi had designed and made for the volleyball club with the poster boards she had bought last Sunday, and Iwaizumi shows her some photos of drawings that his little sister had done in the Sailor Moon sketchbook he had given her for her birthday (“She loves it so much that she hugs it until she falls asleep at night, and now both my little brothers want one too”).  
  
The way his face lights up when he proudly shows her the drawings and talks about his siblings makes Kiyoko smile. It’s kind of _cute_ , if she were being honest. Boys who are tough and cool, but also knew how to be—and weren’t afraid of being—soft and kind.  
  
 _Platonically_ , Kiyoko adds hastily. She meant that completely platonically. Like friends. She could think the same thing about, say, Sawamura, or some of the other boys in the team. They too fit that description of being tough but kind.  
  
(Kiyoko was definitely not thinking about them in the same way as Iwaizumi.)  
  
 _Platonically_ , Kiyoko thinks again, a little more sternly. She and Iwaizumi are just friends. Maybe. Could they even be considered friends? This is only the second time they had ever hung out together. At what point can they call each other friends?  
  
Iwaizumi is still talking, and Kiyoko pulls herself back from her thoughts. She is getting carried away and her mind is jumping all over the place, and what kind of _friend_ would she be if she didn’t pay attention? She closes her hands around her hot cup of green tea until the heat stings at her palms in an attempt to anchor herself to their environment and to his words, but it’s hard when the warm and proud expression on his face is so distracting.  
  
Mercifully, the restaurant’s lunch period draws to an end for the day, and they pay for their meals and leave. Once they are outside, Iwaizumi turns to her.  
  
“Hey, if you’re not busy next weekend,” he says, “there’s a place not too far from the Mediatheque that makes really good agedashi tofu, so… I mean, that’s if you have time.”  
  
As with last time they hung out, he speaks casually without being pushy, and Kiyoko takes a moment to appreciate this again.  
  
“I have time,” she says with a smile. “Is Sunday okay?”  
  
Iwaizumi nods and grins back. “Sunday is perfect.”  
  
 _Yes. Friends,_ Kiyoko thinks.  
  
(The fluttering in her chest is getting harder to ignore)

— — —


	3. Superhuman

5:35pm: [ _Tomorrow, I was wondering if you would like to study together at the Mediatheque before lunch, since we’ll be in the area? I’m a little more behind on homework than I thought I was._ ]  
  
5:42pm:  < _Sounds good. I need to catch up too._ >  
  
5:42pm: < _What do you have to study for?_ >  
  
5:45pm: [ _Japanese and maths. You?_ ]  
  
5:50pm:  < _Maths and English. Let’s meet at Kotodaikoen Station, North 1 exit?_ >  
  
5:52pm: [ _Okay. 10am?_ ]  
  
5:55pm:  < _Sure, but I need to drop off something for Matsukawa first, so I might be a few minutes late. I’ll let you know._ >  
  
5:56pm: [ _No problem. See you tomorrow._ ]  
  
—  
  
Iwaizumi stares at the mess of paper, books, and stationery in front of him.  
  
The area of the Sendai Mediatheque they are seated in is quiet and not many people are around, so the moment they arrived, they took the chance to claim a table each, and Iwaizumi is secretly glad given that Kiyoko’s mess seems likely to bury him alive if he lets his guard down. For her Japanese subject alone, Kiyoko has two textbooks, a novel, and two exercise books, all dog-eared and clearly been flipped through a thousand times, and a semester’s worth of worksheets strewn across her table, peppered with various colourful writing utensils. Her maths work is still crammed in her bag.  
  
Iwaizumi steals a glance at her notes a little perplexedly. While Iwaizumi’s writing and note-taking is quite neat and systematic (which is half the reason why Matsukawa and Hanamaki keep leeching them off him; the other half being that the alternative is to ask Oikawa, and they just can’t be bothered doing that), everything written in Kiyoko’s books is messy, which surprises him given how prim and proper she comes across, but he supposes there is something to be said about judging a book by their cover.  
  
Kiyoko’s handwriting is rushed and somewhat scribbly, and Iwaizumi can barely make out the characters; there are annotations everywhere joined to arrows pointing haphazardly everywhere else; half the pages are highlighted in a colourful mix of fluoro yellow, orange, blue, or pink; occasionally he can see words circled or sentences underlined with ‘!!!’ or ‘?!?!’ next to them; near Kiyoko’s elbow is an essay, written much more neatly than her notes, and marked with an 82% near the top right hand corner, with various red marks and checks on the first page;  
  
“What’s wrong?” asks Kiyoko when she notices he hasn’t written anything or moved from his page for the past five minutes.  
  
“It’s… well… I didn’t think you were the type to be so messy,” Iwaizumi answers before he can stop himself. He can’t think of a way to make his blunt words sound polite, so he opts to smile sheepishly instead to let her know that he didn’t mean it with ill intent. But Kiyoko raises an eyebrow at him, and there is a slight steel to her eyes, as though daring him to continue, which he… does.  
  
“I mean, it’s not… it’s just not really… what I… expected, but, uh…”  
  
Kiyoko drops her gaze to her notes and there is a slight flush to her cheeks. “It’s just the way I study,” she says a little defensively, and Iwaizumi realises from her reaction that people had probably given her grief for this before.  
  
 _Oops._  
  
“Sorry,” he says after an awkward pause, and she looks up at him cautiously. “I didn’t mean it that way. There’s nothing wrong with being messy.” _No, seriously, you haven’t seen messy until you see Hanamaki’s handwriting, because I’m pretty sure he’s actually writing in Cyrillic script with his eyes closed,_ he wants to add, just because he thinks a joke might make her smile, but it doesn’t seem like the right time for it. “I mean, it makes sense to you, and you know where everything is, right?” When Kiyoko nods, he shrugs and continues, “Then that’s all that matters.”  
  
“You were surprised, though,” says Kiyoko slowly.  
  
“Well, yeah…” Iwaizumi admits. He reclines back in his chair and puts his hands behind his head. “To be honest, I pictured you as someone who did everything neatly and perfectly. Like, if you told me that you could draw a perfect square without using rulers, I’d probably believe you. I figured you were an A-grade student, top of your level, class representative, involved with half the clubs at your school… that sort of thing.”  
  
“I can’t draw perfect squares,” murmurs Kiyoko, and she twirls her pen in her fingers restlessly. “I can’t _draw_ , full stop. Before Hitoka-chan started designing our posters, I tried making recruitment posters for the volleyball club… now that I think about it, that may be one reason why we had so few applications.” Said in any other way, that could have been a joke, but the look of Kiyoko’s face is that of disappointment, and Iwaizumi doesn’t feel any desire to laugh. “In school, my teachers call my notes ‘organised chaos’. I do well enough, but I’m not in either of the college prep classes, and for extracurriculars… I’m happy just being with the volleyball club.”  
  
It is only when she says ‘happy’ that Iwaizumi smiles a little, and when Kiyoko sees this, her expression softens and she continues, “People look at me and assume all sorts of things… usually things I’m not, and I just couldn’t live up to their expectations. It wore me out, and it got to a point where I… stopped worrying so much. I just had to do what I could, maybe a little more, and that would be enough.”  
  
“It’s a good way of thinking,” says Iwaizumi. “Like I’ve said before, you work hard, but now I know you’re not all rigid and perfect at everything. It’s really refreshing, actually. It’s…” _Cute_ is the word he wants to use, but it’s not a word that does her justice, “… nice.” That doesn’t do her justice either, not by a long shot, but it is better than ‘cute’.  
  
“It took me a while to figure out, but I think it was worth it,” says Kiyoko, and she looks more relaxed now. “And anyway, who’s to say that someone who’s a top student doesn’t write messy notes?”  
  
“Good point,” Iwaizumi concedes, but he grins now when he sees she is smiling again. “You’re really cool, you know?”  
  
There’s another flush in Kiyoko’s cheeks, but it’s much different to her annoyance from before. “And you’re just way too honest,” she says.  
  
Iwaizumi gives a soft laugh. “I’ve been told it’s one of my best and worst points.”  
  
“I like it,” says Kiyoko. Her smile widens, and Iwaizumi feels a funny spasm in the pit of his stomach.  
  
“Ah, dammit,” he says as he sits upright and takes up his pen again and avoids looking at her. “Let’s get back to studying.”  
  
“You got distracted first.”  
  
Iwaizumi gestures to her avalanche of paper. “How could I not be?” he teases.  
  
They don’t get much studying done that morning, but it bothers neither of them.

— — —

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took the idea of Kiyoko being an average-ish student and slightly messy in her school work from the fact that a) she is Class 2 (as listed in her character profile), which, if the third-year classes follow the same format as the first-year classes, is not a college preparation class, and b) in one of the last pages of chapter 73, there is a frame of a badly-drawn volleyball poster which I assume Kiyoko drew, given she is the club manager.
> 
> Kiyoko is just so great. (￣▽￣)


	4. Aurora

It’s late afternoon on a Saturday, and Kiyoko and Iwaizumi had taken some time after their respective teams’ volleyball practice to catch up for some coffee near Sendai station. As they make their way back to Kiyoko’s bus stop, she drops the dreaded question.  
  
“Have you thought about your plans after high school?”  
  
Iwaizumi winces at her. “Do we have to? My teachers won’t leave me alone about it.”  
  
Kiyoko grins a little. “I’m not your teacher, though.”  
  
“True. Well… Oikawa’s already gotten a recommendation from a good university whose volleyball team has been picking up speed these past couple of years, and my grades should be good enough to be accepted too, but I really need to be studying a bit harder.” He scratches his neck and looks as though the very thought made him queasy. “So if all goes well, that’s where we’re headed.”   
  
“You’re aiming for the same university? I would’ve thought, given how much you pick on him, you’d try to get away,” Kiyoko teases.  
  
“Ha! It would make more sense, wouldn’t it? But nope, that’s not what’s happening.” Iwaizumi slips his hands in his pockets, and kicks at a pebble on the ground. “I can’t really explain it, but he’s got a sort of… pull. Like gravity. I mean, that dork and I have been giving each other grief since _grade school,_ and that’s going to continue into university, but I’m weirdly fine with that. I go where he goes.” He shrugs a little. “On and off the court, I’m sort of like his shadow, I guess.”  
  
Kiyoko’s smile fades. Her brow furrows slightly and she runs his words though her mind again.  
  
“Shadow,” she repeats quietly.  
  
“Yeah,” says Iwaizumi with a faint smile. “I mean, when people say Aoba Jousai, Oikawa’s the one they think of; he’s basically the volleyball club poster boy. He’s got it all, and he shines so much, even if he can be a colossal pain to deal with, that you just can’t help but be pulled along by him and follow him, like a shadow.”  
  
“But… you’re not his shadow.”  
  
Iwaizumi gives her a slightly surprised look. “Sorry?”  
  
Kiyoko purses her lips together for a moment and fidgets with the hem of her jacket as she gathers her thoughts. “It’s true that Oikawa-san is an amazing player and really stands out,” she says slowly, “but at the end of the day, he’s a setter whose greatest strength is drawing out his team members’ maximum potential, including your own. And I would know; I watched you and your team break mine apart not that long ago. You’re an amazing player too, and you’re the one who keeps your team anchored. You’re not his shadow, and anyone who’s seen you play would say the same thing, and Oikawa-san knows it too, or he wouldn’t have so much trust in you. He’s a great player, but with him by your side, you shine as well. _You_ are the one people call Seijou’s ace.”  
  
It was so important to her that he knew this. There is a familiar spark in her chest, much like the way she gets quietly fired up on the increasingly frequent occasion. She remembers watching the way Iwaizumi played in the few matches of his that she has seen, against Karasuno and otherwise: that intensity, that power, that focus, the way he knocks sense into Oikawa—a powerhouse in his own right—with just a few well-chosen words, the way his kouhai all look up to him, the way he pulls his team together… and Iwaizumi thought he was Oikawa’s shadow? It wasn’t right. It made no sense.  
  
There is a long silence. As the seconds tick by, Kiyoko’s spark gradually dies down, and she becomes acutely aware of the fact that her face is burning. She ducks her head and stares hard at the ground.  
  
“Thanks,” says Iwaizumi quietly, voice slightly muffled. Kiyoko steals a glance his way. His is looking away from her and his hand is covering his mouth, and Kiyoko could almost swear he is blushing too, but can’t be sure because she can’t bring herself to look at him for too long.  
  


— — —


End file.
